Top 5 Best Online Payment Systems for Small Businesses

Are you still manually processing all of your payments? It can be time-consuming and tedious. It doesn’t matter how you accept payments online, using a reliable and user-friendly solution can have a ton of benefits.

In this digital world, it’s more important than ever to be able to reach all your customers and make their user experience as simple as possible. And online payment systems are a way to help do that.

Let’s take a look at how online payment systems work and some of the best options for your small business.

Here’s What We’ll Cover:

What Are Online Payment Systems?

The Top 5 Best Online Payment Systems for Small Businesses

Key Takeaways

What Are Online Payment Systems?

When the term ‘online payment system’ is thrown around it can mean a few different things. And while there are subtle differences, they all refer to a service that facilitates online transactions.

The different terms that can get used to describe online payments are:

• A payment gateway
• This is the service that takes online payment requests and directs them to the online payment processor
• A payment processor
• This is the service that validates credit card details and makes sure there are sufficient funds to make a payment
• A payment provider
• This is the company or business that operates one or both of the payment gateway and payment processor
• Merchant accounts
• After an online transaction gets completed, funds get transferred from the customer to the merchant account. This usually requires you to work with your payment provider to set up a merchant account.

Why Are They Necessary?

There can be several advantages to implementing an online payment service for your business. And those advantages will positively impact both you and your customer base.

Here are a few of the biggest advantages of using an online payment service.

• You can better meet customer expectations
• Your customers want things to happen seamlessly and quickly. And with more and more people making purchases online, an online payment system will help make your processes more efficient.
• Payment processing is faster
• There’s no need to wait for funds to reach your bank and then have to wait for them to clear. Payments are processed almost immediately.
• Accounting processes become well-defined
• Since the payments are automated, you don’t have to go through the process of manually entering and recording transactions. Everything gets done for you on the payment platform.

The Top 5 Best Online Payment Systems for Small Businesses

It’s important to remember that some accept payments online systems will work better for some businesses compared to others. It all depends on your needs, the type of transactions and how frequently those transactions get made.

Before committing to a payment system, take some time to look through the features and services different platforms offer. You can make sure you find the solution that has the features that you need.

Here are the top 5 best online payment systems for small businesses.

1. Barclaycard

When it comes to flexible payment processors, Barclaycard is one of the best on the market. They offer capabilities for businesses of any size, and allow you to get paid in 1-2 business days.

Barclaycard also has fees as low as 1% per transaction, which means more money in your project. 

2. PayPal

PayPal has been around for a long time and is one of the most popular and widely-used payment systems. You can connect multiple credit and debit cards and there are 56 different currencies available. Plus, there are no monthly membership fees.

You can send and receive money, link your bank account details and even set up recurring payments. And even if your PayPal balance is zero, you can still make purchases through your connected bank account. The app is also available in over 200 countries.

3. FreshBooks

An all-in-one small business invoicing and accounting solution, FreshBooks offers powerful software options. It’s implemented by millions of businesses around the world. And the platform provides a seamless user experience with financial reports that you can understand.

One of the greatest things about FreshBooks is that it has solutions for all your accounting needs and is also a powerful payment processor. This could give you the ultimate reporting tool for all your business needs.

4. Dwolla

One thing that stands out most about Dwolla is the wide variety of integrations offered. You’re able to set up multiple different payment structures if you need to. Things like instalment payments, recurring charges or multiple-stage interests.

There is a monthly fee associated with using Dwolla but it’s a competitive rate compared to other online payment systems. The platform is also incredibly flexible, which will allow you to set it up for your exact needs.

5. Due

More than a payment solution, Due has a broad range of features and services that set it apart from other systems. What started as a time-tracking and invoicing tool now offers services for secure online payments. It even has an e-bank, which is a place where you’re able to securely store your cash online.

You can gain access to virtual wallets, make secure transactions and implement time-tracking software at the same time. The broad range of features makes it a great option for any small business.

Key Takeaways

With so many options out there for a payment system, it can be difficult to figure out which one you should use. Do you need to transfer funds to different financial institutions or a credit card company? What different payment methods can you accept? Do you send a lot of electronic checks or are you just exploring payment platform options?

The biggest thing to keep in mind is to make sure the payment system you choose offers the right set of features and services. Some of the platforms offer free trials or don’t require a monthly membership fee. So you can always test out a few different systems to see which one will work best.

But regardless of which platform you decide to use, it will help make your payment and accounting processes more efficient. You will also be able to meet and exceed customer expectations and process payments faster.

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